Socialism: Bernie Sanders’ job guarantee proposal doesn’t add up

The notion of a “job guarantee” in America, once appropriately seen as a fringe idea lacking credibility, is growing in popularity among the Democratic Party.

Last week, the Washington Post reported that Democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is crafting a proposal in which the federal government would guarantee a job that pays $15 an hour plus health insurance to any American “who wants or needs one.”

The plan, which Sanders hasn’t figured out how to fund yet, would call for the creation of hundreds of government projects throughout the country in fields ranging from infrastructure to caregiving in order to be able to guarantee a job to all American workers.

Two potential 2020 presidential candidates, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, and Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, have lent their support to the idea, with the latter proposing a pilot program in 15 localities to see if the scheme can work.

While we’re sure Sanders, Gillibrand and Booker mean well in backing such an idea, as with other top-down government efforts to resolve complicated problems through government action, including rent control and minimum-wage increases, the job guarantee idea not only perverts the proper role of government, but is likely to yield a litany of unintended consequences.

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Fundamentally, there’s nothing in the United States Constitution to indicate the founders believed that the proper role of the federal government was to provide jobs at $15 an hour plus benefits including health insurance to anyone who wanted one.

As inconvenient as the Constitution is to those whose primary desire is the dramatic expansion of federal powers, the document was written to constrain the powers of the federal government, not to facilitate the sort of government expansion desired by Sanders, Gillibrand and Booker.

Even if someone dismisses the value of limited government, Sanders’ plan not only currently lacks a funding plan or even a cost estimate, but it comes at a time when the federal government is already on track to spend $1 trillion or more than it takes in nearly every year over the next decade.

And even for those who ignore basic math, the massive federal deficit and the likely skyrocketing cost of the proposal, Sanders’ plan is likely to create massive distortions in the job market.

According to Census data, more than 70 million Americans earned less than $32,500 in 2016, including over 40 million who worked full-time. Sanders’ plan would guarantee jobs with salaries of $31,200. Practically, this is likely to undermine the private sector’s ability to hire and retain workers, while massively swelling the portion of the labor force on the federal payroll. Inflation would likely follow, as would job losses in the private sector as the private sector grappled with higher labor costs.

Further, as with any large expenditure by government, there are likely to be greater incidents of cronyism and politically motivated allocations of government projects of variable value beyond providing jobs with benefits.

This sort of central planning is inconsistent with what America is and what it should be.

“From each according to his ability, to each according to his need,” might appeal to the economically naive, but it has no place in a free society. As such, it should remain only in the imaginations of aspiring central planners far removed from the corridors of power.

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Bernie’s a fraud, believing in his drivel is beyond logic! He will promise anything, however he can’t keep his promises. For anyone buying his is crap they still believe in something for nothing, sorry folks it doesn’t work.

This is amazing that time after time, failure after failure they still push this agenda.
Simple economics, government does not manufacture and sell parts for profit. Profits are driven by sales of that product. If there are no profits, there can been no way of paying salaries, etc.

The kind of jobs that Bernie supporters want is one in which they get paid a handsome salary and they can sit around texting and Facebooking on their phone for eight hours and in the middle of the eight hours they want someone to buy them lunch.

Bernie Sanders and from the article above: “Two potential 2020 presidential candidates, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, and Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, have lent their support to the idea, with the latter proposing a pilot program in 15 localities to see if the scheme can work.” Oh, how I love the communists. By the way Bernie, you own three homes and you are worried about global warming and the carbon footprint. I think all three of your mansions should be confiscated and we should send you to Cuba!

I’ve heard the Progressive argument for this and it almost makes sense. You give out free college and then the students get better jobs and pay more taxes, meaning the whole thing pays for itself and then some.

…almost makes sense.

There are a few problems here.
a. The countries that do this are still running national debts, so it obviously doesn’t work.
b. These countries also have Welfare programs so it obviously doesn’t work.
c. The worst part is how libs have invaded our colleges to the point where a degree is nearly worthless. Women are encouraged to take Womens Studies, but there it no job at the end of that journey. A doctorate in Womens Studies only qualifies you to teach classes in Womens Studies. And they’re too stupid to understand this is circular logic. China isn’t clobbering us because they produce more people with degrees in Womens Studies. They teach STEM.

And there are plenty of other fields equally as worthless as Womens Studies. How about Liberal Arts? Do you expect to get a job as a liberal artist? That’s not a thing.

Libs, but especially Socialists, just don’t like to work. They’re all Michale Stivic from All in the Family. Unemployed and talking down to everyone like they know things, but they really don’t.

Steven, I also have been paying into SS, since’78. That doesn’t change the fact that it is an unconstitutional program, that has done more damage to the family than any other except welfare. OTOH, no politician is ever going to author a budget without it, so don’t bother getting worked up over it.

Bernie wants Government to take care of the masses by providing free jobs, health care and college. Sounds very close to Communism to me. The Communist left is out to destroy the Constitution and this Country. Wake up America!

The WPA (Works Progress Administration for you young uns) with the addition of World War II armarment production pulled the US out of the Great Depression. The President that presided over this was a 4 (FOUR) term president. And yes, there was a D behind his name, but there can be no valid argument that living conditions in this country GREATLY improved in the last half of the Fourties as well as the entire decade of the Fifties. So were the WPA and the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps), both very Socialist programs “bad” for America? Am I a “bad” conservative (I’m more independent, but whatever) for thinking that the programs of the Thirties might have some merit?
But wait, there is currently single digit unemployment. Work is out there for any that need a job. If you believe the media, there are even jobs that Americans don’t want that have to be filled by illegal aliens.
That brings us to the nutty professor looking Mr. Sanders. He is reaching out to his “base”, you know the kids that were “Occupying Wall Street” until old man winter made them fold their tents and go scurrying back to their rent subsidized housing.
Just more white noise, intended to get a rise out of anyone that supports the current administration.
By the look of the comments here, this tactic worked like a charm.

Socialism will not work until two whole technologies are developed. It may not work even then, but these will give it a fighting chance. Replicators and free energy.

Look at Star Trek. There is no money. The machine will make anything you want just for the asking. Everybody has free food, clothing, housing, medical care, transportation, etc. And there is power to run it all. What kind of society does it have?

FDR–Job Corps. The US has been there and done that. It didn’t work before; but I’m sure our progressives will tell us that it didn’t work before–only because those that preceded us, simply didn’t try hard enough or go far enough for the scheme to reach its potential.

Government employment occurs by taking jobs out of the private-sector and putting them to work by creating non-productive bureaucracies which thereafter perpetuate & continuously enlarge themselves over time.

Keynesian economics suggests that for every dollar spent by the government, private industry generates $1.50 in taxable revenues…an economic version of the perpetual motion machine.

Unfortunately, practical economic experience shows that the theory isn’t too far off–only in reverse. For every dollar the government takes out of industry making products the government incurs $2 in expense non-productively shuffling paper around. Given the size of government, it isn’t surprising that the nation is $2oT in debt; it’s just surprising that it isn’t in debt even more.

If this is such a hot & sure-fire plan, how come it still hasn’t worked in either California or Illinois; were progressiveness and Keynesian economics are considered to be religious sacraments?

May all liberals, including Bernie, board the next plane on a one-way trip to North Korea where all of their ‘socialist utopia’ dreams will be instantly realized. “Have a nice trip but don’t come back ’cause you have never been welcome in America.”